These pretty DIY painted plant labels are headed to the new garden, and I’m super excited! Despite being a cheap and fairly simple project, they look sensational and are extra durable for long-term outdoor use in our New Zealand conditions. I love these homemade garden labels, and I’m not alone. Every garden visitor, from family to friends to tradies, has commented on the plant name markers. Most want to know where to buy them. The ultimate compliment for a crafter, perhaps. But, it’s much more my style to show you how to create and customise your own DIY plant labels. Here’s how these were made!
Creating and Customising My Own Outdoor Labels
Made with painted plywood, these durable DIY custom plant name tags are meant to last as long as the plants and/or myself call this garden home. Perhaps longer!
Double drilled holes make it easy to feed strings (or other attachments) through the tags, and double attachment points help to hold the tags securely in position so they’re not battered about by winds. Stretchy t-shirt yarn works well to hold securely but gently around trees, supporting stakes, wires, trellis, and many other potential attachment points.
This is the second set of tags I’ve made using this technique, and I’ve tweaked the method a little. My old tags were made of scrap shim wood, but the new tags are made with thick and sturdy plywood for more durability. The rougher plywood surface was roller primed and then painted with a white exterior gloss to prepare the surface before masking and spraying with a matt grey overcoat. I also adjusted the font and format to enlarge the plant variety text for easier weeding. Full DIY details are below.
As a mini update, these plant labels have been in use for several years and are still looking great. Now that most of our plants are more mature, the tags have all been moved to posts. The drilled holes work perfectly with screws for longer term attachment.
Wait a Second... Wow! That's a Lot of Plant Labels!!!
I know! Look at all those plant names, especially the huge variety of fruit trees! Unlike the inherited hardscaping and plantings in our previous home, this garden is a new build and a fresh slate. We’ve decided to put in careful planning and lots of hard work (and cash) to create a mini orchard and edible garden. How have we squeezed so many plant varieties into a suburban garden block? Lots of clever tricks! I’ll be sharing more info on that here on the blog as things develop, but we need to let things grow for full posts and pics.
Masking vs. Stencilling
My plant names were applied using masks for easy, pretty, and consistent lettering. The customised name design from cut vinyl is used as the mask on each label. These masks are painted over, then peeled away to reveal what’s underneath.
True stencils are the opposite. For a stencil, the design would be cut away and the surround retained as the stencil. Paint is applied over the top and the stencil shields the rest of the base. This post from Sparkle Tart describes the difference between stencils and masks very well.
For my purposes, using masks for the lettering was efficient for large volume painting and also required a lot less vinyl (less cost, less waste) than making full stencils for each marker. It also applies additional layers of paint to the surrounding plant label to help bolster the weather protection and durability.
You can easily adjust your design, cut, and application approach on the DIY instructions below to stencil you project instead of masking, if you wish.
How to Make DIY Custom Painted Plant Labels
Supplies and Materials
To make similar tags, you will need a computer-controlled cutter (see note below), vinyl or similar, weeding tools, and transfer tape (or other suitable template), wood and basic tools, suitable paints, and something for attaching the finished tags. I used t-shirt yarn. It’s great for gentle use on plant ties: soft, slightly stretchy, easy to use, and gentle on plants. Scrap materials, like cardboard packaging or old newspapers, to protect your surfaces whilst painting are always handy, too.
- Computer and computer controlled cutter – I use a Cricut (affiliate link)
- Vinyl for your cutter or alternative material for stencils/masks
- Weeding tools
- Transfer tape
- Wood and basic tools with associated PPE
- Suitable outdoor paint in at least two contrasting colours
- Painting supplies
I used my Cricut cutting machine (affiliate link) to make custom masks for the plant names. If you don’t have a computer-controlled cutter or prefer a different approach, you could make similar markers using alphabet stencils or freehand the text. Unfortunately, my hand lettering painting skills wouldn’t make the cut for pretty garden markers. Haha! Eco-conscious crafter? See my footnote below.
Making and Preparing the Wooden Bases
- Select your wood for the project. It needs to be suitable for outdoor use, thick enough to reduce the risk of splitting/cracking, but still thin and lightweight. I used a 7mm 1200×1200 sheet cut down to size. Note: For a large number of plant labels, it’s a lot easier to prime it all and paint the front (design) sides first; however, you can cut first and then prime/paint if you prefer.
- Prime (optional) both sides of your wood. Paint one side in the colour you would like to use for the finished letters and allow to dry thoroughly so that your stencils won’t stick and/or lift the paint when removed. Follow the instructions and safety precautions for your product(s), and ensure all of your products are compatible.
- Cut the prepared wood into tags of a suitable size. You can add the holes now or after transferring the masks if you’re not sure about placement. Either is fine, as long as it’s before you paint the top colours so that the holes are weather sealed.
Creating the Custom Name Stencil Masks
- Create your lettering templates. I used Adobe InDesign and imported full ready-to-cut sheets of names as single images (easy to size/cut perfectly). You can easily import image files created from lots of other program as jpg or png formats, or just create the typography directly in Cricut Design Space. Remember, the smaller the text, the harder to it will be to weed both pre-application and post paint.
- Format your project so that the masks will be your desired size. Double check everything before committing and cutting.
- Cut on the machine.
If you have leftover cutting vinyl in a colour you’re unlikely to use in, stencilling and masking projects are a good opportunity to destash craft supplies. I used sheets from a multipack in colours that I’m unlikely to want for other visible projects.
If you’re printing multiple sheets and have a final partial sheet to cut, you might like to wait and cut that after you have weeded the rest. The final sheet is a good chance to add any reprints if/as needed (weeding bungles, noticed typos, fit-check fails, etc…). Also, a few extra dots are always handy in case you discover an orphaned i or j post-weeding.
Applying the Masks to the Prepared Bases
- Separate your plant labels and weed the excess material away from the text template. Patience required, it gets tiresome if you are making a large batch. I did mine over a few days with other tasks in between.
- Use your preferred transfer tape (I use clear peel and stick laminate) to transfer the templates onto the prepared tag bases. Rub to burnish firmly into place to avoid lifting or bleeding when you paint over the masks.
Painting and Finishing the Custom Garden Markers
- Apply a thin coat of the same colour paint as your base letters over the top to help seal the edges of your mask and reduce the risk of bleeding.
- Based upon the recoat times for your chosen paint products, apply thin even layers of top colour paint incrementally to all sides of your tags. Allow to dry.
- Carefully peel away the mask template vinyl to reveal the lettering. You will need to use Cricut tools or similar, like tweezers (shown), to lift the painted over stencils. Even more patience is required for this than weeding, but it’s worthwhile in the end!
- If you want/need to apply a compatible clear coat (optional) on top of everything, apply according to product directions and allow to dry thoroughly before use.
Reflections on Cricut, Vinyl, Crafts, and Waste
I wanted to add a little footnote about Cricut, vinyl, crafts, and waste. I do have a love-hate relationship with using vinyl with my Cricut, but mostly love as it’s really useful. My Cricut craft projects are usually for a special purpose or long term use, which helps soothe any eco-conscious crafting concerns. Things like offcuts, weeding, temporary masking, backings, etc. all generate waste. But these custom markers are for long-term plantings and should last for years, which is more than I can say for other plant markers I’ve bought, worn out, and eventually tossed. Zero waste? Nope! But considered and purposeful. And very pretty, too.
